Make delicious 2-bite treats with these vanilla mini cupcakes.

Ingredients

• Mini’s Buttery Vanilla Cupcakes
• Matterhorn Buttercream Frosting
• Shredded coconut
• White chocolate for decoration

Wet ingredients

• 1⁄4 cup sour cream
• 1⁄4 cup buttermilk
• 1⁄2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1⁄2 cup soybean oil
• 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Dry ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1-1⁄4 tablespoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Before you start: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place 30 soufflé cups on a flat baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. Place an 18-inch pastry bag with tip inside a large cup with the outside edge hanging over. You will use this to fill the soufflé cups with cupcake batter.

1 Place all wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Mix on low speed with a wire whisk attachment for about 1 minute until all ingredients are blended.

2 Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl and stir with a spoon to combine.

3 Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and blend on low for 1 minute until combined. Batter will be lumpy but blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn mixer on high for 30 seconds; most of the lumps will disappear and small air bubbles will start to form.

4 Pour batter into prepared pastry bag, then carefully pick up bag and hold the tip upright to prevent the batter from spilling out. Fill the soufflé cups half full.

5 Bake for 17 minutes. Cupcakes are done when you can apply light pressure to the top of the cupcake and it bounces back.

Makes 30 cupcakes in perfectly cute 2-ounce soufflé cups.

 

Ingredients

Matterhorn buttercream frosting

• 5 egg whites, room temperature
• 1-1⁄8 cups granulated sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1 In a mixing bowl, whisk egg whites, sugar, and salt. Place the mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture every couple of minutes to ensure the sugar granules along the side of the bowl are fully melted with the egg. Continue to whisk until temperature reaches 174 degrees F.

2 Remove bowl from the pan of simmering water and beat the mixture on high using a wire whisk attachment until the bottom of the bowl no longer retains any heat and the mixture reaches a stiff peak consistency. Add vanilla; whisk until incorporated.

3 Remove the wire whisk and use the paddle attachment to finish the frosting. With the mixer set on medium-low, add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting until each addition of butter is blended in before adding the next. If the frosting becomes curdled, do not worry; just continue to add the butter and beat the frosting, and it will eventually become creamy and smooth.

4 Once all the butter is incorporated and the mixture is creamy and smooth, add the powdered sugar, 1⁄2 cup at a time. Continue until all sugar is incorporated. Frosting will be slightly stiff.

Frosts 25 to 30 cupcakes.

Ingredients

Decorative chocolate discs

• 1 cup white chocolate or white chocolate bark pieces

Directions

1 Melt chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring frequently. When chocolate is melted and smooth, use a teaspoon and pour a small amount on a chilled flat baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

2 Repeat with remaining melted chocolate. Place in refrigerator and chill. Use discs to decorate the top of cupcakes.

Assembly
After cupcakes have cooled, frost each one with Matterhorn Buttercream Frosting and roll each frosted cupcake in shredded coconut and decorate with a chocolate disc.

Makes about 12 discs.

 
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Excerpted from Mini Cupcakes Copyright © 2011 by Leslie Fiet. Photography Copyright © 2011 by Zac Williams. Excerpted by permission of Gibbs Smith. All rights reserved.